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MACHINES FOR OPENING AND SNPARATING COTTON, son. No..187,538.` K' g PatenneaMFeNzo,1877. N

N. PETERS, PHOTO-UTHOGMPHBL WASHINGTON. Dv C.

.nearly as possible, in a proper form RICHARD xrrsoN, or LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHlNES FOR OPENlNG AND SEPARATING COTTON, dsc.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 197,5 3S, dated February 20, 1877; application tiled `luly 1, 1876.

To all whom, it may concer-n:

Beit known that I, RICHARD KITSON, of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Machines fo'rOpening and Separating Cotton, Etc., of which the followingis a specification:

My invention relates tothe application ot a new separating device between the apron and feed-rolls ot' thebeater or scutcher ot' cot,

ton or other openers; and consists, tlrst, in the application of a pair ot' separating-rolls after and adjacent to a pair of grasping-rolls, the separating-rolls revolving with much greater rapidity than the grasping-rolls, the object of this part otiny invention being to open and separate the lumps and bunches of cotton evenly as they come from the bale, before reaching the feed-rolls; second, in causing the cotton to be delivered from the grasping and separating rolls to the feed-rolls through a gaging device, the object of this part of my invention being to so measure or gage'the cotton that a constantly uniform quantity of sufticient thickness will `be delivered tothe beater toen-able a lap to be formed directly from the separating-rolls.

Heretol'ore the cotton has been taken from the bale and divided'by hand while beinglaid upon the feed-apron, in order to deliver it, as uniform sheet `to the feed-rolls and beaters. This process was necessarily imperfect, even with the greatest part of the workmam care and skill on the and very defective if he were inattentive, thus impairing the lap, as well as exposing the beater to great strain and wear from the passage of lumps of cotton not snfciently opened by hand. My improvement is devised to overcome these .defects in a great measure.

By the use of a set of grasping-rolls, followed by a set of dividing-rolls running at high speed, and a measuring or gagin g device, I get the cotton into the feed-rolls in a and quan tity,`.and of' uniform density, to form a lap while thoroughly divided and pulled apart. 4 A

ln the drawings, Figure l is a vertical sec- -tion of my improved separating device attached to an opener. Fig. 2 is a side elevarolls,

tion,sho wing the driving mechanism ofthe grasping, dividing, and feed rolls.

A is the feed-apron. B B are lluted graspingrolls, which take the cotton from the apron A. C C are luted separating or divid- A ing rolls, placed next after the graspi'ng'rolls B B, which separatin g-rolls revolve with a very high speed compared with the graspingthe former making presumably one hundred and forty revolutions per minute,while the latter makes fourteen, or nearly so. As

these dividingrolls revolve so much faster than the grasping-rolls, they seize and draw apart or open all the lumps and bunches ot' cotton which pass through the grasping-ro1ls; and a great part of the opening of the cotton which has heretofore been done by hand I means of these dividing-rollsv accomplish by C C. Hence, inthe process ot' forming the lap, two Aof, the beaters heretofore required may be dispensed with, while at the-same .time the expense ot' building and power required in` ruiming the openers are greatly reduced.

'Ihe cottonis delivered from the dividing rolls C @,owing to their high speed, in so thin a sheet as to be incapable of forming a lap, and hence must be condensed or formed into a thick sheet before entering the feedrolls and beater. For this purpose I use a condenser or gage box' between the dividing-rolls and the feed-rolls.-

It', however,'it" from the beater, but only to extract the dirt from the divided cotton in an opener, the .rctarding of the cotton to render it a uniform sheet in size, quantity, and density is not important, and this separating device should deliver the cotton directly to the feedrolls and beater, which extract the dirt without the'intervention of intermediate mechanism.

The high speed at 'which' the dividingrolls C C run will suffice when properly arranged to throw the cotton into `the feed-rolls and accomplish the result desired.

D is the condenser or gage box, which I attach `to the frame under the sepztrating-rolls U G,so that these rolls. This box may be made of any thin sheet metal or othcr material, thefront is `not desired to form a lap the cotton will fall into it from andsidesbeingof .any convenient shape, to' prevent thecotton from escaping improperly, while between the back side of the condenser and the lower separating -roll C I leave a space, a, so ythat when the condenser overflows the surplus will be thrown by the lower separating-roll, along the inclined apron J, back to the cotton-bin.

Heretofore the cotton--has been fedalong from the apron directly through feed-rolls to the beater, the same amount being fed directly to the beater. that is placed on the feed-apron, so that the shape, thickness, and densityof the sheet delivered to the beater constantly varied according to the amount placed on the feed-apron, and as thevsize and uniform density and `thickness,.and consequent value, of the lapdepended .upon the uniform thickness and'density of the quantity fed toand opened byv the. beater, the. lap was .correspondingly uneven.' .I obviate. this difficulty. by means of thisgageor condenser box D,and cause the amountidelivered to thebeater in agiven time to'be entirely independent, in evenness, of the quantity placed upon the `feed-apron A, as

however. unevenly it may be placed on the latter andfed along, as. soon as the condenser overflows, the surplus is thrown. back by the lower dividing-roll C, through 'the opening a, toiithe'` bin. 'This condenser is made a little wider at the' bottom than at the top, so as to prevent the cotton from. getting jammed or clogged in it. At the -bottom of this condenser I place a'ylarge volvesslowly, and carries the cotton out to the neXtfeed-rolls -F,'which deliverittothebeat-er G. vThe cotton. being well opened` and separated by the .dividing-rolls() C, its` bulk is largely increased as it falls into the condenser and in order that it may be discharged out ot' the condenser atabout. the same rate that it is fed into it,I make these feed-rolls F F revolve .a little faster than the grasping-rolls BB,'or from fifteen to twenty revolutions per `minute,'an'd by varying the speed of f these -rollsalap of any desired. thickness may be'formed. A

Any proper means well known to mechanics, and'commonly used for that purpose, may be adopted to revolve the grasping, the dividing, andl the'feed rolls, such as belts or gears communicating with the en gine or waterpower which operates the mill.

'It isnot necessary to drive .these rolls absolutely at. the proportionate rates of speed I havementioned, and the proportions in the rates vof speed of these rollers may be slightly varied, to accommodate them .to the different lengths of'fiber of'diferent varieties ot' cotton to be opened, whichareso numerous that eX- perimeiit alone willldetermine they comparativev speed to begivento` these rollers. I have beater.

fluted feed-roll, E, which re- W jammed in the condenser, the feed-rolls F F will deliver a constantly uniform quantity to the beater, and a correspondingly even lap will be formed.

The use of a single roll and a flat or shell .plate in place of a pair of rolls has long been known in the art, and these devices have been considered heretofore equivalents of each other for separating and delivering cotton to a I do not, therefore, think it necessary to enter into a minutedescription of each equivalent, well known Vin the art, of the different parts I haveshown.

The grasping and feed rolls of the beater are driven by means ofa beveled gear-wheel,

W, which imparts motion to them by wormgears w and fw and gear-wheels T andlT, respectively, in the well known I form. This gearwheel Wis driven by a belt from the pulley w on the shaft X, which shaft is below the floor z of the room in which the beater is placed.

Another belt from. the pulley x on the said shaft causes the dividing-rolls to revolve at the desired speed byv means of the pulleyss and s and pulley B.

This method of driving the several rolls forms no part of my-invention, as it is old and ell known,and other means may be used, adapted to the room in which the beater is placed.

XVhat I claim as new and of my invention is` .1. The combination of the grasping-rolls B B with the intermediate dividing-rolls C C andthe feed-rolls F F, the said dividing-rolls being driven ata higher speed than either the grasping or the feed rolls, substantially as described.

2. The combination ot' the dividing-rolls O G, running ata given rate of speed, with the condenser D and the delivery feed-roll E,'run ning at a less rate of speed, to deliver the ber l from the condenser to the beater, substantially s as described.

. 3. The combination of the condenser D with. the delivery feed-roll E, substantially as described.

l4:. The combination of the feedapron A, the separating and condensing mechanism B B, C G, and D, and the feed-rolls F F, substantially as described.

D. HALL RICE, ALFRED K. GARLAND. 

